


Desert Rose

by BurgundyBandicoot



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Sci-Fi, Steampunk, post apocalyptic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 03:52:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18275219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurgundyBandicoot/pseuds/BurgundyBandicoot
Summary: This is a transposed story that a friend and I began writing collaboratively last year that I continually find myself returning to just to read, even though we have since parted ways for personal reasons and not continued the story. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.Desert Rose is set in a dystopian parallel future where global warming has ravaged the planet, leaving it a desolate wasteland. By now even the oceans have dried up, ceasing to exist as more than deep, bleached white, empty crevasses that split up the world's continents. As such, the most valuable resource in the world is water. Those who control the water control the people and have absolute power over those who depend on them.Water is rationed unfairly to favour big cities and rich communities while others suffer and die. The illegal production and distribution of water is strictly prohibited, but it's all most people have to rely on. The people who bring this water are the Storm Hunters, fearless renegades and pirates who venture up into the the sky's to spark the clouds and create storms, catching the water as it falls and storing it for sale. It is dangerous work, but necessary for the world's survival.





	Desert Rose

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time putting a story up on here, let alone transposing from two different POV, so please be patient with me, and welcome to chapter one!

The city was always loud with the sounds of chatter and laughter, vehicles rumbling up and down the tiered streets and machines helping to whisk people quickly from place to place. Haven was the most advanced city in all of the Western World, and it was even more famous for being one of the last places on earth to have actual living, natural greenery! Sure it was only small patches of grass and the occasional tree, but it was still special. A sight to behold in a world covered in red sand and bitter winds. 

People came from everywhere to see it and bask in the technological advances that made this city able to still sustain such life after all of the devastation to the environment, and all of this thanks to one man, the face of the most powerful tech company in the world, Orion Rose.

He was the modern world's greatest mind and had invented many things to make the lives of everyone around him better. He always credited his dedication to moving forward to his family however, being a completely selfless man at heart, his beautiful wife Aralia and his children, Connor and Piper. He wanted to create a better world for them, where they would be able to prosper and thrive for many years to come. He always encouraged both of their passions and interests, but Piper was something special. 

Even from a young age she displayed an almost impossibly advanced level of intelligence, some saying that one day she may even rival him, which he only ever took as a compliment, teaching the young girl everything she could possibly absorb. The pair were inseparable, and even by the young age of 12 Orion was taking the girl everywhere with him, involving her in his process and letting her work on her own projects as he drew up the plans for his greatest invention yet. It was incredible and vastly impressive, a terraforming machine that would help to reconstitute the entire earth, restoring it to its former glory and allowing every human left a better chance at life! It was incredibly brilliant! So much so that people were more than willing to try and kill for it.

The city's sounds were different now, not full of laughter and chatter but screams of panic, the grinding of metal and the hot rush of flames as they consumed the lower parts of the city, quickly creeping up towards the family as they made their way through their penthouse towards the emergency exits.

"Daddy it's too hot! I'm scared!" The young blonde girl called out from his side, clinging to the leg of her father's pajama pants as he tried to open the door, quickly jerking his hand back as the rapidly heating metal singed his skin.

  
"It's okay, Pip. We're gonna be fine. I'll get you all out of here, okay? This is what we built the escape pods for, right?" He said to her soothingly as he punched in the manual override code of the door, the little girl nodding as it slid open and the man hurrying them all in as flames started to visibly lick at the windows, shattering the glass and making them all shout and scream in surprise, Piper letting go of her father's leg to shield her face from the barrage of broken glass.

  
A creaking sound came from above them and she looked up, her green eyes going wide, but the girl too scared to make a sound as the roof started to cave in on them, a heavy, smoldering beam falling on her small, slender body and pinning her down, the child screaming in agony.   
"Connor, help me!" Orion demanded immediately, the young man and his father getting either side of the heavy wood and lifting it together, Aralia quickly lifting her still crying daughter off of the floor, her back badly burned and her tiny body shaking in agony.

  
"Ori, we have to get them out, now!" She shouted over the roaring flames, the man nodding and quickly dashing over to the emergency room, inputting another code and ushering them all inside, the woman gently placing her daughter inside one of the small pods and sealing it closed, tears streaming down the cheeks of the barely conscious girl as her mother smiled in at her comfortingly, pressing her hand to the glass as her father ejected the pod. That scene was the last thing her green eyes saw before everything faded to black and the room became engulfed in flames, her family disappearing from view forever as the city crumbled around them.   
  


***

 

Piper woke up with a start, clammy with sweat and panting heavily as she escaped her dream, sighing deeply and rubbing her hands over her face. It had been six whole years now but she still remembered it like it was yesterday.

  
She sat up with a small groan in her makeshift bed. It was too hot out here in the desert to sleep with any clothes on so her back was bare, only the sheets covering her and the huge, ugly burn scar left from that night clearly visible. Not that there was anyone else there to see it. There never was.

  
She grabbed her flask from her bedside table and took a long swig before she rolled herself out of bed. Dressing in a once white singlet, cut off shorts and her usual heavy work boots and running a brush through her short, dyed purple hair the young woman headed out of the back room into her little store, walking over to the front door and pressing a button by it which lifted the heavy metal wind shields that protected the buildings in the town from being damaged. Dust storms were dangerous out here, and without the right protection any building could be ripped to shreds in a matter of minutes. 

  
Piper turned her sign from closed to open, wincing a little as the bright light hit her eyes. It was only early morning, but the gap between the buildings across from her let her come face to face with the sunrise over the dunes. She sighed and turned away, taking another sip of whatever hard liquor was in her flask before heading back into the house part of the building in search of something to eat.

  
This town was called Dirt, if you could even call it a town. There was barely anything here, only the necessities. It had a population of 38 people and consisted of a tight circle of decrepit wooden buildings with a single, usually empty well in the center of the street amongst it all. There wasn't much here for anyone, which is why Piper was here. No one would find her in a place no one bothered to look, and who in their right mind would come this far out into the wastes?

 

***

 

High above and for the moment a good distance away a booming voice sounded.

“Haul the transistors you worthless retches! We're not letting one drop of water or watt of lightning escape us this day!" Lucan was a Storm Hunter, though he had never thought that the name was quite accurate, seeing as they created the storms, they didn't really hunt them. Maybe more of a storm gatherer? He digressed.

  
The work was hard, dangerous, but oh so lucrative. Water and electricity were at a premium nowadays as fossil fuels had been stripped long ago, and for some reason, research into solar energy had never been progressed enough to power items entirely on its own. Should have looked into it when they had the time. One of the many faults of the human race, he supposed.   
His ship, Serenity soared through the sky, sparking the small clouds above them from beneath their bellies and forcing them to turn huge and dark, soon causing a dangerous looking storm to form.

  
Rain soon began to fall and the water was sucked up by their hoses and into massive reservoir bags, the electricity stored in discharge batteries, perfect for universal usage and storage.   
The huge man was cackling with glee at the thought being so close to telling Gorza that his debt was paid, and thinking of being free to keep the majority of the profits to themselves, when Coron, his first mate, called out to him in a panic.

  
"Captain! The engines are going to break if we don't set down  **_now_ ** . They're worn down!"   
Dammit! They were supposed to last at least another ten trips out. How were they going to pay for repairs? He grimaced, shaking his head and turning away from the storm to face his friend.    
"Alright set her down! Closest piece of shit town you see! Hopefully they got a decent mechanic!" Who wont charge out the ass, he thought to himself unhappily.

The only town in sight was a tiny, pathetic little speck called Dirt. It didn't even show up on the ship's GPS, but instead was pointed out by a crewmate who knew the area on a massive paper map that they kept around only for emergencies. It was only a short distance away, less than a few hours, and by the sound the engine was making they made it just in time.

As they settled a couple hundred feet outside of town Lucan frowned, looking around at his crew. They hadn't had leave in a while... and they could use some time to blow off steam, but he still had to be firm with them. They could be quite a rowdy bunch if left unchecked. Moving to the front of the ship he addressed the men, and a few women, with a loud, booming voice.

  
"Alright lads and lasses.... we're stopping to get the old engine up and tip top again. Imma give you a few days leave. Rules! Don't burn the damn town down. Dont kill nor rape. And DO NOT get yourself indebted! I can't afford to buy it. Now have fun!" He said with a casual wave as he disembarked.

  
The crew cheered and stormed down to the town, already searching for whatever entertainment this dirtball could have.Lucan on the other hand, immediately made his way towards the building surrounded by scrap.

 

Piper's nose had been very much buried in her tinkering, her feet kicked up on the counter in her little store and her goggles flicked down over her eyes as she worked on the little machine in her hands. It had been a slow day so far, so she had just been working on her own little projects when a low rumble started to sound in the distance, unnoticeable at first but slowly building, yellow sand starting to  _ tink  _ against the glass of her storefront until moments later it seemed to be pelting as the low, loud hum of an unhealthy ship engine grew louder, most of the town scurrying inside shutting down their dust shields as Piper stood, pushing her goggles back up on top of her head and walking slowly to the door, watching with a furrowed brow as the ship slowly came down to land beside the little circle of buildings, taller and longer than the tiny town, so much so that it cast the whole place into shadow, even as it’s huge white sails folded down against the mast.

"Great..." muttered the girl as the engines shut down and the sand settled once again. It wasn't hard for her to guess what they were doing here.

Piper counted them as they poured down the gangway like rats out of their nest, 36 in all who headed mostly to the pub. Old Ed would make a killing tonight, even though any of the men looking for whores would be disappointed. Ed's daughters might have fun with some of them, but there was only two of them, and they were in no way professionals. No need in a place like this.

One of the men broke off from the group, easily 7ft tall and built like a shed with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard, and headed towards her store. She'd been expecting it, but it still made her scowl. She folded her arms over her chest and walked back away from the door to lean against the counter where her gun would be in reach and waited impatiently, watching intently as he approached her door and entered the neat little store. As his large frame filled the doorway she looked him up and down, surveying him for a moment in silence with piercing, pail green eyes before finally speaking

"What'd you do to your ship? Sounds pretty mangled." She was always one to cut to the chase. She knew what he was here for, and she wanted to get it over with and get him out of her hair as soon as possible.

Thumbing his own pistols on either side of his hips idly, he looked over at the short, slender woman, her skin pale, not at all befitting folk that were in the harshness of the sun on the regular as bonderspawn usually were known to be. It was rather odd in his opinion and he raised an eyebrow briefly as she got straight to the point. Well, he supposed it was better than going through the usual bullshit.

"Engines' always been rough. Found her pre owned, pristine but for the engine. She's been trucking along for as long as she can go with as much patching as I can put on her, but my crewman and i can finally tell she won't last much longer if she dont get replaced, or fixed proper. "

Piper clicked her tongue in response and sighed, leaning over the counter to grab her toolbelt, her shapely hips on show for a moment and the base of her long, ugly burn scar visible under the edge of her shirt as she turned, Lucan taking the opportunity to peer at her ass and curiously look over her scar before she came back and wrapped the heavy leather and tool adorned belt around her waist, a pistol sitting on her right side as well.

"Well, don't have the parts to rebuild it, that's for sure. Don't get much in the way of scrap out here, or anything else really, but 'fixing things up proper' is what I do best. I'll see what I can do." She told him, picking up a small, dented flask off of the counter and taking a swig of the harsh, clear liquid inside, hissing through her teeth at the strength of it before tucking that into its place on her belt as well.

"Lead on then. I do have other things to do today."

Lucan raised a brow slightly at her drinking what was obviously something potent and took a moment to wonder about her capability, but in his opinion everyone was allowed to have their vices, so for now he left it alone. He would soon see if it was an issue after all.

“Right, follow me.” He said opening the door and heading towards his ship, not bothering to look back to check if she was following. She seemed professional, if not friendly. He could work with that. He found that friendly people who weren't professional were more likely to be scammers or crooks. An assholish professional? He’d take them any day.

Boarding the ship, he led her to the engine room. It was kept clean, in that way only someone who loved a ship could keep it clean, all the equipment was neatly piled and polished, just as the machinery was too, but in this case it was very much the inside that was important. Any true, experienced mechanic would be able to tell that there were some serious things that needed to be taken care of, as well as some close to lethal degradation that the average person would not be able to distinguish. Piper was much more experienced than she looked however, and immediately dove straight in

She hummed thoughtfully, flicking her goggles down over her eyes as she opened up the engine compartment and looked around, pulling on her gloves and starting to remove bits and pieces that were beyond repair, tossing them over her shoulder to clatter onto the floor. Most of the damage was so bad that she wouldn't even be able to keep them for parts. Best she could do was melt them down, and then it wouldn't matter if they were any more dinged up than they already were.

"Jesus, you haven't been too kind to her in terms of maintenance. Keeping her clean doesn't mean much if you don't replace parts when they're not working. Don't think she's been lubricating properly for months by the look of this wear..." The girl told him seriously.

"Aint none of us a mechanic.” Lucan dismissed with a shrug. “We had a mechanic for a while, but he turned out to be an idiot." The bastard had tried to disappear with 5 drums of clean, cold purified water. Needless to say, there was a reckoning that had been paid.

"We did as best we could, but I wouldn't say no to paying for some instructions on future maintenance." He wanted to make it clear he was willing to pay for any of the aid he received. That was just the world they lived in now. You didn't want to be in anyone's debt.

"Well, I'll fix her up best I can and give you a thorough writeup. You only have to know the basics for maintenance, but if you know how to tell what's wrong then you'll be able to get help when you need it too." Piper nodded, leaning further into the engine to tighten some loose nuts, her singlet pulling up to show the base of her long, ugly burn scar once again, Lucan who had been nodding in agreement at her suggestion grimacing, but not wanting to draw attention to the scar, let alone the fact that he was staring. Looking at it though he had to force himself not to raise his hand to touch his chest, a phantom pain rising inside him, just for a moment.

"Anyways," she continued with a slight grunt, pulling herself out again and turning back to face him, smiling slightly now, unable to contain how excited she was about being able to work on an engine like this for the first time in a long time. "I'd say this is easily a days worth of work, like 20 to 30 hours. I'll take either water or credits as payment and 10% upfront is my usual rate. 2 litres or 80 credits per hour and the value of any parts I need to use." she told him.

Lucan hid a grimace at that news. Her prices were fair, but it was still expensive. And he couldn't afford to alienate her from fixing his ship either. They needed to get going as soon as possible, and seeing how he wouldn't let a sleep deprived mechanic work on his ship, they would be grounded for another couple of days.

"I'll pay in water and pay 10 percent of 25 hours upfront, and if you end up going over I’ll pay for that too. Fix it in 20, and I’ll still pay for 25 hours as long as you agree to deduct any excess expenses from any parts or scrap you end up keeping from the engine." He negotiated to which Piper promptly nodded.

"Fair." She said happily, taking the glove off of her right hand and offering it to him to shake and seal the deal, her green eyes fixed on his intently as him.

"And believe me, I will get It done as soon as possible. You don't wanna be stuck here any more than we want you here."

Lucan's expression was approving as she offered her hand to him. She understood both the generosity and the fairness of the deal. Plus she didn't try to weasel any extra out of him. That he could appreciate. Even with how obviously unfriendly she made herself and the town seem he still appreciated her tactics. Taking her hand he nodded as he shook it, his huge hand enveloping hers almost completely and shaking it with a firm, but still surprisingly gentle grip.   
"Just don't work through the night. I may want to leave as soon as possible but I also don't trust  _ anyone _ working sleep deprived." He told her seriously, causing Piper to laugh slightly, letting go of his hand and holding up both of hers.

  
"Haven't lost any fingers yet, mate. I know my limits." She told him, dropping her hands again and pulling her glove back on.

  
"Anyways, I'll have a closer look and then head back to the shop to grab any parts I need to get started. This'll be fun. And you don't have to sit in if you wanna go with the rest of your lot and have a drink. Ed makes some killer moonshine." She said, looking up at him with a slight smile, an expression that showed her youth and sarcastic, but cheerful disposition.

Lucian just shrugged however and shook his head.

  
"I don't drink. And I'd prefer to watch you and learn how to maintain the engine." He had one drink as a child, found out it tasted awful, dehydrated folks, and were rather expensive. It was just a stupid expense he couldn't justify to himself buying, especially when he really didn't enjoy it. Instead he looked for things to read. He wasn't very good at it, but he did his best. That wasn't something this girl needed to know however.

She laughed slightly in surprise at that response actually, but simply shrugged her shoulders and pulled her flask from her belt, flicking off the lid.

  
"Well, as long as you don't mind that I do." she said, taking a swig and putting it away before leaning back in with a muttered "let's see what we've got here..." 

  
She spent a good 20 minutes rummaging around, explaining what she was looking for and patiently answering any questions he had before she'd seen everything she needed to. Lucan promptly filled up her down payment of water and the pair started to head back to her store, the young woman holding the door open for him to go through to her private quarters before starting to gather what she needed from the main store as he dispensed the water into her seemingly heavily armed water tank that seemed to be fixed into the wall, accessible from the inside and outside of the building. The back of the shop was just one little room filled with junk and spare parts with a little makeshift bed of old blankets and plywood nestled under a shelf against the side wall. It was all more than a little flimsy looking, but both doors obviously had some sort of high tech security system on the inside and out, an obvious deterrence to anyone who might think to tamper with the tank or try to take anything from her own little private world she had set up here. Lucan raised an eyebrow at all this, unable to help feeling a little impressed. It was clever, and done in such a way that it was obviously threatening without it being at all obvious what the security system would do when triggered. A very effective deterrent. 

"So, why was this your port of choice?” Piper called to him as he waited, soon coming back to join her.” We don't get many strangers 'round here." she told him in a carefully crafted, yet still in no way perfected border accent.

“Not exactly port of choice so much as port of convenience.” He told her, looking down at her with a carefully curious gaze as she flitted about, gathering bits and pieces up into a large box. “The engine started to make a loud grinding noise while we were up seeding, and me and my crewmen knew that it was time. Just glad we managed to find a mechanic who knows what they’re doing.” He explained.

"Well that is some luck for sure. There's not much else out here but scrap. Talk about right place, right time, huh?" she said, picking up a few more bits and pieces and shoving it all into the box that she now had tucked under her arm as she joined him by the door again.

“You’re not wrong about that.” He chuckled wryly.

"So, what's your name? I think I cut you off before you had a chance to introduce yourself earlier."

“It’s Lucan. And it’s fine. I appreciate your business first attitude. Business first, pleasantries later. I can work with that.” He told her with a playful grin. “And yours, miss?”

  
“Pip.” She replied with a soft smile, shifting the box from one arm to the other and offering her hand for him to shake again, the large man chuckling and doing so politely before the pair continued.

“And if I'm honest I generally don't like strangers. Better to get things done and dusted quickly and get people out of my hair, you know?" she explained as they started to walk back.

"Not much out here for decent folk, everyone's got something to hide, and it's hard to be on guard all the time these days." she said with a sigh. "But in any case you seem pleasant, and sincere."

"Agreed. Never know when the Bigwigs might decide to do something stupid. Again." He said with a wry grimace. He didn't know a single person out in the borderlands that liked the people that decided they were judge jury and executioner for the entire planet.

"You haven't done anything to harm me or mine, so you’re good in my book too." He told her with a half smile which prompted one from the much shorter woman as well who was having to almost jog to keep up with his long legged strides, the bouncy little creature seeming energized and determined in her own gate as she kept pace.

  
There was a lot of noise and laughter coming from the pub by now, the townsfolk rushing about trying to take advantage of the rush of business while they could, Piper chuckling a little and watching the commotion as they went past.

Lucan snorted at the sight of his crew using their pay for all manner of crap, and he even saw two of his men seemingly very intimate with two young ladies.  
"Would those be the two daughters you mentioned earlier?" He asked, pointing out the scene with a tone of amusement.

"Mmmhm. Varli and Emelda. I don't blame them. It's boring here, and everyone worth having is already taken." she said, smiling slightly up at him with a glint in her eyes.  
"As such, when there's strangers about we all usually like to have a little fun. First in best dressed though, and as you can see, I'm working." The tall man laughing heartily in response. 

"Well, good for them. I’m sure if those two don't satisfy them, they'll have plenty more volunteers." He said with a little wink.

"I'm not usually one to have fun with the locals. Try to keep things professional. As captain, I kinda have to be seen as responsible dependable one. " He explained to her.

"Well, I don't know about that. Sometimes it's good for the people around you to know that the person in charge of them is human, don't you think?" she asked, taking a sip of her flask as they stepped back up onto the ship.

"On occasion? I agree. But dealing with a crew of roughnecks like this, you gotta balance that fine line of being fair, caring, and strict. Aint a one of ‘em I think would backstab me, but I still have to prove myself a good leader. And part of that is proving im best in charge."

"Well, if you want to relax at all while you're here just let me know I suppose. Not that there's much to do around here." she said with a slight smile as they headed back into the engine room and she sat down by the box of parts, starting to lay them out on the floor in some kind of unspoken order, Lucan chuckling and sitting on a bench near the wall as she worked. He gazed at the array of tools, trying to think if he had even seen any of those before. That only went to show just how primitive they had been working here in terms of repairs themselves.

"Maybe I’ll take you up on that. During a break or when you're done for the day." He said as he observed, Piper glancing up at him and smiling slightly, picking up a wrench and a few small parts from out of her rows.

"Well, might be a little tricky seeing as you don't drink and most of the fun things I do include that, but I'll do my best." she said cheerfully before getting stuck in, barely pausing in her work again until dark.

"Alright, that should be enough for tonight. Close to half the work at least." She said, wiping her hands clean on a rag that was tied to her belt.  
"So, do you want to come into town? There's cards, uh...a piano? Yeah, that's about all I've got." She admitted, shrugging her shoulders as she thought about how truly dismal it sounded.

“Well...I ain’t ever played a piano, but I had a keyboard when I was young that I used to play around with, so I could give it a whirl I suppose.” He said with an idle shrug.

“Oh, well...you'll probably do better than most then. Only one or two people in town can play, so usually the kids just mess around with it." She said with a kind smile as she started to walk past him out of the ship.

"Come on then, Captain. Your turn to teach me something."

He chuckled quietly but nodded following her into town, until they finally came across the tavern and the piano inside. He thought he had read somewhere once about any bar needing a piano.... but then he wasn't the best at reading. 

Watching his men and women drink to oblivion, he pulled out the bench and gingerly sat down before relaxing as it didnt creak at all, Piper who had left his side as they entered to get herself a fresh bottle of threateningly clear liquor which she uncorked with her teeth and swigged at, promptly joining him again and removed her heavy toolbelt and sitting down at the piano beside him to watch. 

Uncovering the keys, the captain cracked his fingers and slowly began working up the scales before going into a slow but cheerful melody.

His hands, while large and rough, were incredibly dexterous as he flowed across the keys, smiling a little as he glanced at Piper beside him and slowly beginning to change the music up again, flowing into a powerful but... somehow whimsical sounding piece. Ot sounded like uncontrollable laughter would be in music form. As he played the talk in the bar quietened a little, the majority of the crew watching their captain in surprise and the townsfolk just listening respectfully. Everyone appreciated some good music when they heard it after all.

Once the song was done the small space erupted with cheers and applause, especially from his less than sober crew, Piper grinning as she looked over her shoulder at them and then back up at him.

"Teach me something simple?" She requested eagerly, looking up to see a slight blush on the captain’s face at the applause but he nodded to her quickly, scooting over slightly, and showing her how to hold her hands over the keys.

"Alright so, I don't know any of the names of any of these things, but I can teach you something easy." He told her, Piper just nodding as she still grinned widely up at the surprisingly sweet man beside her.

With her agreeance he flowed into a slow rendition of a song that was very easy to follow, directing her to the octave above to repeat the notes as he played them.

"You're going to make mistakes. Only thing that fixes that is practice. Need to get that muscle memory on lock." He told her as he saw that she was already frowning, focusing completely on the clumsy movements of her own, slender fingers over the keys, starting to pick up the tune slowly but surely.

"Yes.... there you go. " Lucan said with a grin. Even with the smaller little mistakes she made as she made her way through the piece he seemed to be pleased. He didn't correct her every time, only when she was having trouble remembering what came next. 

"Well then... you've got that down... now... keep playing that over and over, and I’ll add an accompaniment to it." He said with a grin, slowly adding his own music, a look of intent focus coming over her face as they played along together. Her brow was furrowed and her eyebrows drawn together as she played the small part he'd given her, a young girl around nine or ten spotting them and bouncing over excitedly.

"Pip! Pip! Pip!"

"Shh honey, just wait." The young woman scolded, fumbling a few notes before the song soon came to an end, causing her to breath a happy sigh of accomplishment and smile up at Lucan before turning to the girl.

"Yes Abby, what is it?"

"You didn't come to school today so I wanted to give you my homework I finished." The little blonde thing said proudly, handing out a notebook to Piper who smiled and took it gladly.

"Good girl. Do you want me to give you some more problems tonight or can you wait until the day after tomorrow when the ship leaves?"

"More!" The girl demanded, Piper chuckling and opening up the book, flicking to a blank page and writing out some math problems in tight, neat handwriting before handing the book back, the girl quickly running off again.

"Sorry, I usually teach them all maths in their daily lessons, but obviously I couldn't today. My best student that one." she said with a proud smile, Lucan looking more impressed than anything else.

"You're a teacher? And you teach for free?"

There was no reproach in his voice. In fact, he approved. Children were still children, no matter the situation. Just because everything is shitty, doesn’t give full grown adults the right to take advantage. Also the fact that she taught. For a moment, he wanted to ask if she could teach people to read. That would have been a dream come true but.... no dice. They were only staying for another day. Which actually made him rather sad. In just a few hours he had started to rather like the young mechanic.

"Well...we're a little community here, you know? Everyone has their part to play. They already had the other core subjects covered, so...I just picked up maths. It's what I'm good at. Well, I'm good at a lot of things, I'm just teaching them the basics." She shrugged, smiling a little and taking another swig of her bottle before standing.

"Want me to teach you how to cheat at cards? No one here will play me for money anymore, but they'll still try and see if they can beat me."

He raised an eyebrow at her offer but shrugged.

"What the hell, should be fun." He said with a chuckle. "Hopefully you got a deck of cards secreted somewhere, ‘cus I don’t carry a deck. Don't gamble much. "

He explained. Damn, now that he thought about it, he must seem so damned boring. He didn't drink, didn’t gamble, didn’t fornicate. He sure as shit didnt smoke or take drugs. His only vice.... was his wrath. He had spent many years controlling it.

"Well, it's easier to gamble if you know you're gonna win." The girl said with a wink, spinning on her heels enthusiastically and raising her bottle into the air.

"Hey Earl! You been practicing? Come show me what you've got!" 

She spent the rest of the night teaching him how to count cards as sneakily as she could, refusing to take any money from his men either just out of a courtesy to him. He actually started to get the hang of it quite quickly, playing until eventually he was only losing to Piper, that was until the night started to peter out and his crew either went up to the inn rooms above the bar or back to the ship, Piper walking with him slowly as they left together.

"Well, I'm confident that I can get the rest of that work done tomorrow, probably around the same time, after sunset. You should be off again after that just fine." she told him confidently. Hearing that Serenity would be fine soon Lucan nodded and sighed in relief.

 

“That’s good to hear. We still need to drop off this shipment soon and having to stop has put is a little behind.” 

“Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll have no real issues on that part in the long run. You can’t just hire someone else half way through a hall for that amount of water if you need it, you know? And I'll keep writing things down for you so you can do all the small pieces of maintenance yourself. It's easy once you know what you're looking at, trust me." She said with a kind smile, slowing as they walked until coming to a stop in front of her store.

"Well, this is me... Do you want me to let myself in tomorrow or will you come find me? I'm usually up with the sun, so..."

"Well.... what would work for you?"

He was going on a limb here. He liked her quite a lot, and was willing to give her a lot more trust than he would normally give someone he had known for a grand total of 9 hours. Especially since she was leaving them all the information on how to maintain the ship.

"Well, it's not like you're making any money set down here, best to get it out of the way sooner rather than later, right?" she said, leaning against her shop door idly.

"Besides, I haven't gotten to work on anything that interesting for a long time."

"Then go ahead and let yourself in. I’ll put a posting on the ship about it. If everyone isn't completely fucked up in the morning." he said wryly.

"But.... yes... you can come over whenever you want."

"Well, I did tell you that this moonshine is something special." she said with a grin, taking another sip before giving her one last smile.

"Alright, well...I'll see you tomorrow then. Bright and early." she said, nodding to him before unlocking the door and heading inside to bed.

Lucan gave her a small salute with his pointer and middle finger, and headed off to the ship. All in all? A great day. The ship would he fixed tomorrow, and he had made... a very friendly acquaintance.

 


End file.
